Plessy v. Ferguson Mock Trial

My litigation group, team "Red, White, and Better than You", was elected to be the defendant in the Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson To prepare for the case, my group and I began by researching and finding out all the information we could about the circumstances of the trial. We wanted to get a full understanding of the case and its background. The case itself was fought over the infringement of Homer Plessy's 14th amendment rights under the equal protection clause. Plessy believed the segregation was wrong and does not offer blacks the same protection and treatment under the law as whites, and is thus unconstitutional. The local Louisiana court and the states supreme court both ruled against Plessy, forcing him to pay a $25 fine for his crime. The case then made its way to the Supreme Court where the same decision would be made, along with the landmark ruling of "separate but equal", allowing segregation in public places.

My team and I were able to win the case because we were able to find other court decisions that set precedence for our argument. Our main legal document was the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, which repealed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, thus making segregation and discrimination in public accommodations and transportation legal. Because our argument was based off of solidified law and not the moral sentiments of the prosecution, we were able to win the case.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. I enjoyed planning out my argument based off the argument I believed the prosecution would make. I enjoyed having a counter statement to every argument or accusation they could have made. Through my research, however, I was able to see that even though I was on the winning side of the court case legally, the right decision was not the one chosen. Discriminatory and racist behaviors ran rampant across this country and still continue to this day.
I believe that if the people in power and influence during this time period had made the decision based off morality instead of legal precedence, the world we live in today would be much different.

Causes of the Civil War

From the inception of our country, the issue of slavery was one of great debate. The South's agrarian centered society became the largest cotton producing region in the world, while the North's industrial powerhouse pumped out goods to export to our new network of global allies. This entire process relied heavily on the institution of slavery. Now it seemed that the country was divided right down the middle on the morality behind this peculiar institution, but one thing was for sure, the South's economy needed slavery like a fish needs water. From the 20 year rule to the Missouri compromise, the debate took form through the laws passed in congress. This was seemingly one step forward and two steps back for every law passed in the eyes of the abolitionists, but the mere fact that the debate was being had was a promising sentiment in our young nation.


Slavery itself became the benchmark of what the majority of people believe the civil war was fought over. But I don't think anyone should believe that the South's stubbornness and injustices were based solely off of their hatred and belief that the African race was a lesser one. Yes of course these sentiments were prominent, but looking through the eyes of a historian or even as a politician, you can see that the South didn't so much as WANT the oppression of blacks; they NEEDED it. Their entire economic system depended on it. Having free labor, perfect land for farming, and a new capitalistic society in which to do business, is enough to make any business man, white or black, swoon in their millions. The true battle was fought over the South's belief that their states had the right to this free labor, and that the federal government had no right to dismantle this peculiar institution that created more millionaires in Mississippi than in any other state. The enforcement of laws like the "Tariff of Abominations" in 1828 added kindle to the soon to be inferno of the civil war.

In the eyes of the leadership in the South, slavery was a states rights issue. In the North, it was a civil rights issue. But we should not be foolish enough to think that the Northern states were a fantasy land of acceptance and love. Racism itself extended nationwide. Even in the Lincoln's giving of the Emancipation Proclamation, only slaves from the rebel states were set free. Slaves currently living and working in the "boarder states" had to maintain their servitude because the North feared that they would lose the support of their host states, and they would join the Southern cause.

So now, in 1861, the country found itself fighting a war that pitted brother against brother. A war proving that a house divided cannot stand. A war that would go down as the bloodiest in our history.